International: Airmen in a Hurry

The secret orders to U.S. and British airlift pilots was to top their own previous record (8,246 tons in 24 hours) and fly at least 10,000 tons of food, coal and other supplies into Berlin in one day. The crews flew as they had never flown before. The four-engined C-545 and twin-engined R.A.F. Dakotas roared into Tempelhof, Tegel and Gatow airfields at the rate of one a minute. Twenty-four hours and 1,398 trips later, they paused to tot up the score. They had gone way over the top, had flown in 12,940 tons. That was equivalent to the load 22 freight...

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